Parkhàr Studies: Or, Towards an Anarchic History of South-western Asia

From the late 80s – early 90s on, a new genocide was invented and started being talked about in Greece (and among the Greek diaspora): the "genocide of the Greeks of Pontus". This was accompanied by a more general revival of a particular ethnic Pontic identity. This revival is often seen by many, including its protagonists, as one more variation of Greek nationalism and irredentism. However, in this paper I propose instead that we read these public identity performances as expressions of “anti-state nationalism”. The Pontians manifest a particularity which, although presented as quintessentially and primordially Greek, in practice differentiates them from standard Modern Greekness. In my paper, I examine some examples of such manifestations in the field of legislative lobbying, establishment of public rituals, selecting names and nicknames for persons, places, institutions or football teams, translation activities, and political propaganda through typography and the cyberspace. I analyze these expressions of ponticity through the lens of political anthropology and philosophy and try to see to what extent these can be considered as an effort by the respective populations to escape the state, to become at least partly invisible to it and its bureaucracy.